San Diego City Tournament
On Saturday, November 16, UCSD Men’s Rugby hosted the San Diego City Tourney. Several local San Diego City colleges joined including, USD, Mesa Community College, SDSU, Point Loma Nazarene University and Mira Costa Community College. Each game would be 40 minutes split into 20-minute halves.
UCSD began the tournament by playing Mesa Community College. It did not take long for UCSD to take the lead. By the end of the first half, UCSD had 21 points to Mesa’s 0. Mesa attempted to retaliate in the second half and gave it their all, however, UCSD was able to maintain their lead finishing the game with UCSD 28 to Mesa 0.
With no break, UCSD took on the fresh USD Toreros. This match proved to be one of UCSD’s toughest yet. The first quarter was completely dominated by USD with them taking an early lead of 3 scores. UCSD, however, did not take this lying down. Before the end of the first half UCSD scored a tide shifting try, letting USD know that they were still in it. Rolling into the second half, UCSD tightened up their defense and came with an offensive intensity that led to an explosive score. UCSD ultimately closed the gap to 3 points, however, USD played a hard game and UCSD was unable to overtake them. Leaving UCSD in the end with 12 to USD’s 15.
UCSD took on Mira Costa Community College in their final match of the tournament. Learning from their mistakes of the previous match, UCSD played hard, leaving no gaps in their defense and punishing Mira Costa with an explosive offense. UCSD controlled the field both halves and won with a score of 35 - 0.
The tournament’s standings were USD in first, Point Loma Nazarene Second, UCSD Third and Mira Costa College in Fourth. UCSD thanks all the participating colleges and hope to see them all next season.